Adoption of smart city agendas: exploring the case of Cape Town and Nairobi

Abstract

Governments are considering alternative ways of better managing city services in response to the many social, economic, political, cultural, environmental, organisational and technological challenges which arise as a result of the expanding world population and increased levels of urbanisation. City governments around the world, and more recently in Africa, are looking for new ways in which to deal with and manage these changing dynamics. One way is through the adoption of Smart City agendas. African cities are adopting Smart City agendas; however, there is no understanding or clarity on whether these agendas are adopted to serve the interests of local residents, the private sector or other stakeholders. This study explored how African cities are adopting Smart City agendas, with the objectives of: (i) understanding what motivates African cities to adopt Smart City agendas; (ii) how cities arrive at the objectives (e.g. priorities, anticipated benefits and beneficiaries) of their Smart City agendas; (iii) how cities set about adopting their Smart City agendas (e.g. what models or approaches) are used in setting up Smart City agendas. The research used a comparative case study of two African cities: Cape Town (South Africa) and Nairobi (Kenya). The study made use of primary and secondary data sources. A qualitative analysis of the data was performed using thematic analysis to identify themes, context and relationships, and to provide answers to the research questions through the theoretical lens of stakeholder theory. The findings of the study reflect that reasons for adopting Smart City agendas are varied but, can be categorised as social, economic, environmental and technological. The study found that the objectives of the agendas are set to realise institutional optimisation, harness technology and unleash citizen potential for improved quality of life. Contextual conditions, leadership style, size and scale of project influence the approaches used to setting the Smart City agendas. Ultimately, the agendas for Cape Town and Nairobi are not isolated list of ideas cities are pursing, they are derived from the country’s vision set to address each city’s unique contextual conditions, challenges and opportunities.